Cologne, Germany: With the launch of its flagship brand in Europe, Apollo Tyres on Tuesday said it aims to become a $2-billion entity by the end of this fiscal, riding on the back of new markets in its portfolio.

“We have set a target, which is to become a $2 billion company by way of revenue by 2010-11. Today, Apollo already has a turnover of $1.7 billion," Apollo Tyres managing director Neeraj Kanwar told reporters.

The company, which introduced its main brand ‘Apollo’ in Europe on Tuesday, said it plans to sell its tyres across Germany, Netherlands, UK and Italy during the initial phase.

“Thereafter, by March 2011, we will look at entering other zones of the European market," he added.

The range of Apollo passenger car tyre brands that will be available in Europe includes Amazer 3G Maxx, Acelere, Aspire and all-terrain vehicle tyre brand Hawkz.

“Our current range, catering to the small and mid-size segment, will meet the growing demand in Europe. We will be available only at established retailers. We will not walk the wholesale route," Kanwar said.

He said that the company would be supplying the tyres to the European market from its Baroda plant. Also, some of the tyres meant for the domestic market would be produced at its Netherlands-based Vredestein facility, which was acquired last year.

Apollo Tyres is also planning to enhance the capacity of Vredestein to six million passenger car tyres a year. At present, the facility produces 5.1 million tyres a year.

On the domestic front, Apollo Tyres is investing Rs300 crore to expand the capacity of its newly-built Chennai facility to 8,000 units per day, from the current 3,000. Apollo Tyres had announced an investment of Rs550 crore while starting work on the plant in September 2008.

At present, Apollo Tyres has nine plants across the globe with a total production capacity of around 1,200 tonnes per day, out of which 67 per cent comes from India.